Dogged Determination
by shadow282
Summary: He was lost in the woods, separated from his family, until a chance encounter gave him the opportunity to make a new family. As he grows closer to them, he'll learn more about himself and about the world. Life is complicated, but he does know a few things for certain: His name is Zwei, and he is a good dog.
1. Chapter 1

He was lost, alone in the woods. His mother had told them to run, and his brothers and sisters had scattered. He could still hear the growls of those dark creatures, could still see their glowing red eyes in every patch of darkness. He wasn't very old, but even he knew that something was wrong. The dark creatures shouldn't have attacked them. They never had before. He knew, to his very core, that as long as they didn't attack the dark ones, they should have been perfectly fine. The clash between his instincts and his experience was almost as terrifying as the fight he was trying to escape.

Suddenly, he sensed something moving ahead. He tried to stop, but he had been sprinting so fast that he slipped. He kept going until he smashed into something hard. Whatever he had hit felt warm, like it was the sun shining down on a beautiful day. Coming off his terrified run, it was the most soothing feeling he had ever experienced. Looking up, he saw a creature he had never seen before. As the creature bent down to grab him, he knew he should have started scrambling away. He knew nothing about this thing, and that should have scared him. But, somehow, it didn't. He felt himself being pulled up until he was staring the creature in the face.

"Hey there, little guy." He heard. "What are you doing running around in the dark?" The creature's speech was weird. He didn't talk like anything he had ever met. It was all noises, no body language to help decipher the meaning. Yet somehow he could understand everything it was saying. "Let's go see if we can find your family, okay?"

They spent most of the rest of the night looking around, but they couldn't find a trace of his family anywhere. He was upset, obviously, but he knew it should be bothering him more than it did. There was something about this creature who was helping him, who had called himself Tai, that he found incredibly comforting. He wasn't sure why, but he felt safe there, much safer than he had in the woods.

Finally, morning came. Tai stopped walking and looked straight down at him. "Well, buddy, I'm sorry we didn't have any luck. Unfortunately, I can't spend the rest of the day helping you search. I have my own family waiting at home. Although maybe..." Tai trailed off, clearly debating something. He waited silently for Tai to continue. "I mean, if you wanted, I have two little girls at home who are going through a tough time right now. They're not exactly your real family, but I'm sure they'd love to have you. What do you say, do you want to come live with us?"

The more he thought about it, the more he decided he wanted to go with Tai. He wasn't entirely sure why, but all he knew was that he felt safe with him and that he didn't want to be alone again. He gave a loud bark, and Tai looked down at him and smiled.

/

As they got closer to Tai's home, he began to feel a new feeling inside. It took him a while to identify it as nervousness. After all, he still didn't know much about Tai. Sure, his new friend was nice, but that didn't mean his children would be as well. At this point there wasn't much he could do about it, so he decided to just hope for the best and fell asleep.

He woke up to a pair of loud cries.

"Daddy, daddy, you're home!" They were shouting as they wrapped themselves around Tai's legs. They stood together like that for a moment, and he could feel the same love between them that he had felt with his own family. Suddenly the smaller one looked up. "Is that a dog? Can-we-keep-him-can-we-keep-him-can-we-keep-him? Please please please please please please pleeeeasssee?" She yelled out in a single breath as she jumped up towards him. He started to grow a little alarmed, but Tai quickly lifted him above her reach. Tai waited until the bigger child had her arms around the smaller one before lowering him again.

"Maybe, that depends on him." Tai said, placing him on the ground in front of them. "Why don't you introduce yourself and ask if he wants to stay?"

The girl practically jumped over to him. Tai grabbed her before she got close and placed her just far enough away that she would have to take several steps closer to reach him. "Go on, talk to him" Tai told her.

"Hi, I'm Ruby and this is Yang and this is my dad and you're just the cutest little thing and I love dogs and do you want to stay with us and play with me forever?" This time, the young girl managed to take a few pauses between words. She was, however, still bouncing in place.

Looking at the clearly ecstatic girl, he again felt comfort for no explicable reason. Looking at the three of them, he decided that this wouldn't be a bad place to call home. He barked assent and took a few steps forward, and both the young girls came and wrapped him up in a tight hug. He stood there with them and could feel the happiness coming from all of them. He whined happily. He may have lost his first family, but he could tell he had just gained another one.

/

He had been at his new home for a few days now. It was incredible there. He had a nice soft bed, delicious food to eat, and a pair of friends who never seemed to run out of energy to play. He loved spending time with them, and he could tell from the way their faces lit up that they felt the same. There was just one small problem. He didn't really care except they had stopped playing and were just sitting there, waiting for the girls to come up with something. It has fallen into a predictable pattern.

"What about Bones?"

"We're not naming the dog Bones, Ruby."

"What about Barks?"

"We're not naming him Barks, Ruby."

It went on and on like that. He heard Ruby suggest Spot, Buddy, Tails, Bites, and Cookie before sighing, closing his eyes, and falling asleep.

When he awoke, it was getting dark and the girls were still arguing. It was clear they had been talking about it for hours.

"For the last time Ruby, we are _not_ naming him Barks!"

"But why? He's a dog, he barks, it's perfect!"

He was about to close his eyes again when he heard Tai approaching the house. "Hey girls, what are you doing?"

"Hi daddy! We're coming up for names for the dog. I came up with a bunch of really great ones, but Yang's being mean and shooting them down!"

"Am not! Can you please explain to her why we can't name a dog Barks?

Tai just laughed, leaning down and scooping Ruby up in his arms. He tussled her hair thoughtfully before saying "What about Zwei? I always thought that would be a great name for a dog."

He could hear Ruby sigh. "Well, it's no Barks, but I guess that's okay." She looked down at him. "What do you think? Do you like Zwei?"

Zwei was as good as anything else, and at least it would let them get back to playing. He jumped up and wagged his tail, giving a few happy barks. Ruby and Yang both started laughing with him.

He looked around for a second. Maybe it didn't really matter to him, but if this is how it made his family feel then having a name wasn't so bad.

/

He awoke with the certainty that something was very, very wrong. So instead of moving, he kept his eyes closed and listened carefully. It took him a second to realize what was different. He could hear a faint sniffling sound coming from upstairs. One of the girls was crying up there.

He immediately bolted up and raced up the stairs. The door to the girls' room was already partially open, so he burst through it, ready to attack whatever was causing his family to cry. However, when he looked around all he saw was Ruby and Yang sitting on one of the beds, looking at him with shocked expressions on their faces. Ruby had clearly been crying, and Yang was hugging her close. Zwei kept searching until he heard Yang's voice "It's okay Zwei, Ruby just had a nightmare. Do you know what that is?" Zwei shook his head. "It's like a dream of something bad happening. They're scary, but they can't really hurt us."

That didn't make any sense. Why be scared of something that wasn't real? It seemed ridiculous to him, but the tears on Ruby's face showed how upsetting it was to her. Fortunately, he didn't have to understand the problem to know how to solve it. He jumped up on the bed next to her face and started licking the tears off. Ruby let out a small laugh at his antics, and Yang managed to put a smile on her face.

"Good dog. I'm going to sleep here with Ruby, okay? You can go back downstairs if you want." Before she had even finished speaking, he had moved to the bottom of the bed and curled into a ball. This drew another laugh from Ruby, and Yang leaned over to scratch his ears a little. "Okay, we'll all stay here. Goodnight Ruby, goodnight Zwei."

Zwei closed his eyes as both the young girls drifted off to sleep. He, however, stayed up the whole night, watching over them. He still might not understand the whole "nightmare" thing, but there was something he knew for certain: nothing was going to hurt his family, not while he was around to protect them.


	2. Chapter 2

"There we go! I knew I could get it." Ruby said, taking her hand off his head.

"No, you didn't." Her sister called out from the side of the garage.

"How could you possibly know? You refuse to come over here."

"Yeah, because I don't need to see it to know you didn't do it. I've told you a million times, it's impossible. Dogs _can't_ have auras, Ruby, no matter how many times you try to unlock one."

"Maybe, but Zwei isn't a dog." Ruby responded as she crouched down next to him. Zwei braced himself, years of living with the girls leaving him knowing exactly what would happen next. "Zwei is a suuuuuper-dog!" Ruby yelled as she scooped him up and tossed him at her sister. Zwei spread his legs out wide and caught Yang in a hug as he knocked her to the ground. Yang started to sputter indignantly before he happily whined and started licking her face. That caused a smile and she started scratching him behind the ears as Ruby ran over laughing.

It was the same thing Ruby had done a hundred times, but this time had felt different. Zwei spent a second thinking about it before realizing that the impact had felt softer, somehow. He also noticed he had an odd, tingly sensation around his body. He felt Yang suddenly stiffen up and looked up to see her face frozen in shock. "Wow, Rubes, you're right. I can feel his aura now. It's incredible, I can't believe you did it."

Ruby was practically glowing from the compliment. "No, we did it. Right, super-dog?" She said as she leaned down to pet him. He let out a few barks and started wagging his tail happily. The three of them sat there together, enjoying the family moment.

Then, Yang's face lit up in a mischievous smile. "Well, now that you've unlocked it, we have to test its strength, right?" Zwei wasn't sure what _that_ meant, but the look on Yang's face generally ended badly. It was the same look she had given before she had destroyed the garage. Both times.

He suddenly started to feel a little worried about this whole aura thing. He gave a slight whine, and Yang looked at him with a guilty glance. "It'll be okay boy. Your aura will protect you from getting hurt. We just need to test its strength. We'll be careful, I promise." _That_ caused him to be more than a little worried. Those were the exact words she had said before she had burned down a tree outside their house. All five times.

It turned out to not be as bad as he had thought. They ended up throwing him against objects in the yard for a few hours. It had hurt a little, but that tingly sensation had seemed to protect him from most of it, and he wasn't injured at all. They only stopped when Tai came outside to see what all the noise was and walked out to Yang throwing him head-first into the garage. His immediate yelling stopped once they explained what Ruby had done, and he watched Tai's anger turn into a mix of pride and happiness. As soon as Ruby noticed that, she jumped forward and knocked him down, and Yang soon jumped in on the pileup. Zwei dutifully trotted over and waited for an exposed area to join in the fray.

Sure, maybe his family was a little weird, but he loved them all the same.

/

"Save me super-dog, you're my only hope!" Ruby yelled as she ran towards him. It was a few months since Yang had started combusting when angry. She had it mostly under control, but sometimes it still flared up a little too much. This seemed to be one of those times. Zwei wasn't exactly sure what was happening, but Yang had been yelling something about a broken brush before Ruby came sprinting out of the house. Ruby grabbed him up as she ran past, and she quickly turned and threw him at her sister. Her aim was perfect. Zwei came in right on her face and knocked Yang to the ground. It was then that he noticed two different things. First, that the grass around her head had started to catch fire. And second, that despite what he knew was blistering heat he felt nothing more than a mild discomfort.

When she saw this, Ruby immediately sped over. "Oh-sis-look-at-that-Zwei-is-totally-immune-to-fire-isn't-that-amazing-he's-definitely-the-coolest-dog-ever." She breathlessly yelled out. The revelation had even snapped Yang out of her anger, and her hair had already started returning to normal. "You know what this means, testing time!" Whenever the girls discovered something new about him, they immediately started "testing time". It usually consisted of increasingly dangerous situation until they ran out of ideas or someone stopped them. Zwei didn't really mind it. It seemed to make the girls very happy, and they were careful to never actually hurt him.

A few hours later, "testing time" concluded once he walked through a fire they had built without getting burned. He could feel it around his skin, but it didn't seem to reach past his aura. Zwei's favorite part of testing time started right after they finished. Ruby came, picked him up, and wrapped him in a hug while Yang came over and pet his ears. It was the perfect end to any activity with the girls.

/

"Zwei Zwei Zwei, where are you? I have something cool to show you!" Zwei woke up from his nap and walked outside to the shouting Ruby. She noticed him by the door, and then somehow blurred and was suddenly right next to him. A trail of rose petals slowly fell to the ground behind her. "Isn't it cool? I was out training, and I finally discover my semblance." Ruby then spent the next hour tossing her in front of her and then blurring forward to catch him before he hit the ground. She only stopped when Yang came out and started lecturing her about getting used to her semblance slowly. When Yang took her first pause, Ruby quickly cut in. "Hey Yang, since Zwei has an aura do you think he has a semblance?" It was pretty obvious that Ruby asked as much out of curiosity as a desire to change the subject, but Yang still turned to him with a thoughtful expression.

"I don't know, maybe? He is fireproof, so maybe that's his semblance." The girls then began arguing about what would be the most useful semblance for him. Ruby was lobbying pretty strongly for him turning invisible, for some reason that was inexplicable to him and Yang but seemed to make perfect sense to her. Yang was more practical, giving him a super-bark that could scare off anything. Zwei decided to curl up into a ball and close his eyes. He knew from experience that they could keep this argument up for the entire day, and it wasn't like he was contributing much to the conversation. He fell asleep almost instantly, his family's argument still ringing in his ears.

/

"Girls, let's go, you're going to miss the airship." Tai called from downstairs. Yang was laying down next to him on her bed, her suitcase fully packed and ready to go. Zwei looked up, put his eyes on Ruby, and waited. He saw the panicked expression suddenly appear on her face. He watched as she turned into a blur, speeding around the room grabbing things and shoving them into her bag, leaving rose petals all over the floor. It didn't take her long to finish, and they all went downstairs and walked outside.

They got in the car and started towards the airfield. Zwei was deep in thought as they drove. He wasn't particularly happy about today, but he knew that the girls couldn't stay at home forever. They got out and both the girls turned down to him. Yang managed to keep a mostly straight face as she leaned down and hugged him, but Ruby couldn't stop herself from tearing up as she pulled him close to her. "Oh, I'm going to miss you so much Zwei! Hopefully you'll come visit soon, right?"

He gave a happy bark and wagged his tail. Ruby laughed at that and, putting him down, both girls grabbed their bags and walked away. He sat with Tai until the girls had disappeared into the ship. He told himself it would be okay. He would miss his family, but at least the girls would have each other. He would stay with Tai, and they would see each other soon, right?

/

Zwei woke up to Tai shaking him. "Hey boy, I'm going on a little trip. I'm not sure exactly how long I'll be gone. Would you like to go stay with the girls for a while?" At Tai's words, he jumped up and his tail started wagging uncontrollably. Tai laughed, "I knew you'd be up for it. Now, here's the plan..."

* * *

 **So this is what I would consider as my first failed idea. I had meant for this to be a brief prologue for the actual story of a post Fall of Beacon narrative as Ruby/Yang deal with the fallout from Zwei's POV, but I couldn't end up getting a good balance between the serious tone needed and the POV of a dog. The "prologue" just kept getting longer and longer as I wrote. So I decided to scrap the original idea, but I liked what I had enough I figured I'd publish it as this instead.**

 **If you liked it and want more, be sure to let me know. I doubt I'll ever go to where I wanted the story to end up, but there's plenty of material to explore between Zwei's arrival and the end of Volume 3.**


End file.
